Tuesday, August 30, 2011

I'm getting close enough to completing the base set that I thought it was time to ask for help. I'm not planning on doing all the parallels, except for the Angels. At the bottom are those Angels parallels that I already have.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Twenty-five years ago today, baseball saw one of its most amazing rallies, capped by quite possibly its all-time least-likely walk-off grand slam.

On Aug. 29, 1986, the Tigers have a road victory seemingly in hand, as they led the hometown Angels by seven runs, 12-5, entering the bottom of the ninth. The game is all but wrapped up. All but.

Leading off is the least impressive bat in Anaheim, shortstop Dick Schofield. Playing in his 417th career game, he sports a lifetime batting average of .217 as he leads off the bottom of the ninth. Refuting the odds, Schofield beats out an infield single to shortstop.

That brings up the top of the order. First, veteran infielder Rick Burleson lines out to center. One away. Ah well, it ain’t like the Angels really have a chance anyway, right?

Rookie sensation Wally Joyner comes up next and draws a walk from reliever Randy O'Neal. Well, at least the Angels aren’t going to roll over before suffering the inevitable loss.

Next up, is the ageless wonder of the world, Brian Downing, who promptly cracks a single to load the bases. The heart of the order will be up next.

Batting clean up is Jack Howell, a mid-game replacement for normal third baseman Doug DeCinces. The team made the switch when it was clear Detroit would win. Someone forgot to tell Howell the game is over, because he belts a double to right, and two runs score. Now it’s 12-7. Better, but still badly out of reach.

With the best part of California’s order coming up, Tiger manager Sparky Anderson removes O’Neal. Time for Willie Hernandez, the Detroit closer who made his third straight All-Star team this year and won the Cy Young Award and MVP two years ago.

Despite Hernandez’s accomplishments, he has some problems here. George Hendrick greets Hernandez with an RBI single, scoring Downing, making the score 12-8. Bobby Grich follows that with another single, and it’s 12-9.

Suddenly, things don’t look so bad. Sure, the Angels are down by three, but, incredibly, the tying run is at the plate, and there is still only one out. You don’t think they could somehow win this sucker, do you?

Probably not, because just as soon as the fans can start thinking comeback win, Gary Pettis grounds to second, forcing Grich while Hendrick advances to third.

Sure, the tying run will still be at the plate, but now there’s only one out left, and we’re stuck in the depths of the batting order. Ah well, at least the Angels made the score look respectable. Can’t win them all.

Given the situation, the Angels call on veteran Ruppert Jones to pinch-hit for catcher Jerry Narron. Jones draws a walk to load the bases. Now the tying run is on and winning run at the plate.

And that man at the plate? Schofield, who led off the inning. While a lifetime .217 hitter, he has made some strides. After batting a sub-Mendoza .193 in his first full-year in 1984, and following that up with a barely improved .219 the next season, he’s nearly hitting .250 on the year so far in 1986. He also has a bit of power—not much, but he’s already belted 11 long balls on the season.

That said, Reggie Jackson sits on the California bench, available for duty. Do you really pass up using Reggie here to let Schofield take a lick? Manager Gene Mauch thinks so. Schofield has two hits today and has shown improvement over the year. Time to show some confidence in his progress.

And Schofield rewards the veteran manager. Boy, oh boy, does he ever reward him. Schofield belts it out of the park, scoring runs 10, 11, 12, and 13, for an amazing 13-12 Angels comeback win over the Tigers.

ANGELS TRANSACTIONS:
May 13, 1965: Purchased by the California Angels from the San Francisco Giants.
Before 1968 Season: Sent from the California Angels to the New York Yankees in an unknown transaction.

ANGELS DEBUT:
Entered the game in the top of the 8th as pinch hitter for catcher Tom Egan, and with a runner on first, struck out against Hank Aguirre (who went on to pitch a complete game shutout) then stayed in the game and caught the ninth of a 2-0 loss to the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday, June 23, 1965 (N) at Tiger Stadium.

ANGELS RECORD:
In 91AB over 41 games he hit .209 and drove in 10. Started 19 and finished 15 games behind the plate, making 78 putouts and committing only 1 error.

Best Angels Performance:
Went 3 for 4 and scored 2 runs in a 5-2 win against the Detroit Tigers on Saturday, August 14, 1965 (D) at Tiger Stadium.

OTHER INTERESTING FACTS:
- Originally signed by the Milwaukee Braves as an amateur free agent in 1957.
- Original member of the 1962 Houston Colt 45's and the 1969 Seattle Pilots.
- Severely injured in 1966 when he was hit in the head by a bat during a brawl in Vancouver, B.C. during a Pacific Coast League game.

From a 1966 Sports Illustrated:
Seattle Pitcher Jim Coates threw one high and tight and struck Ricardo Joseph of Vancouver on the shoulder. Joseph charged the mound, but before he could get to Coates, he was tackled from behind and had his chin bloodied by Seattle Catcher Merritt Ranew. The ensuing free-for-all finally subsided, but then Vancouver’s Tommy Reynolds bunted up the first base line, forcing Coates to field the ball and tried to run the pitcher down. Again Ranew raced to the aid of Coates. Vancouver’s Santiago Rosario dashed from the on-deck circle and hit Ranew over the head with his bat, opening up a deep three-inch gash. There is internal bleeding in the brain, and the left side of Ranew’s face is paralyzed.

This was the third attack with a bat that professional baseball has produced in nine months. For hitting Los Angeles’ John Roseboro over the head last August, San Francisco’s Juan Marichal received a nine-day suspension and a $1,750 fine. The comparative mildness of the punishment was condoned because 1) Marichal’s team was deeply involved in the pennant race and 2) it was the first such incident in major league baseball, and there was no precedent for punitive action. But a warning should have come immediately from the Commissioner that future attacks would bring drastic punishment. None was sounded. Two weeks later Cleveland’s Pedro Gonzales swung his bat at Detroit’s Larry Sherry; Gonzales was fined $500 and suspended for 13 days.

In the Vancouver case Pacific Coast League President Dewey Soriano acted with commendable vigor and proper severity. He fined the lesser culprits in the incident, fined Rosario, too, and then suspended him for the remainder of the season.

Ranew was apparently not far from dying in the hours after Rosario’s attack.

He got back to playing in the minors after the incident and finally made it back to the
majors again in 1969 with the Seattle Pilots, then ended his career in 1971 with the Hawaii Islanders.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

2006 Topps Gold #582 Francisco Rodriguez 0178/2006. This card would be perfect if not for his foot being cut off my the name banner.

2004 Fleer Legacy #30 Vladimir Guerrero. A sparkly diamond on Vladdys teeth would have been a nice touch.

2003 Upper Deck Superior Sluggers #S1 Troy Glaus. From the card back: "Even though he's only played four full seasons in the majors, Glaus already ranks sixth on the Angels' career homer list."
From 2000 through 2002 Glaus hit 47, 41, and 30 home runs.

1993 Upper Deck SP #284 Eduardo Perez Premier Prospects. I would have swore that I already had this card, but turns out after digging through one of my 1990's binder that I didn't. Glad.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

What started out as a trade for this card that I needed for my set:
ended up as a fat package of Angels from my Angels/Dodgers trading pal Michael. This is at least the second time we've traded and Michael always sends me some great stuff that I need for my collection.
In turn I sent him a bunch of Dodgers for his.

Some of the highlights from the stack of Angels he sent:

This is my first Angels Diamond Parallel, #626 Danny Haren. Except for the Angels cards, I still don't care for these. Too busy for my brain.
Nice 5 Year, 85 Million Dollar Man, Jered Weaver 2011 Kimball Champions KC-29 mini.
2006 Flair Showcase 104 Jeff Mathis and 18 Vladimir Guerrero. Not sure about the differences between these evident by the different finishes. The Mathis is a Field Box? and the Guerrero is an Upper Deck? Are those different scarcities or something?
2011 Bowman Chrome Prospects BCP54 Gabriel Jacobo and BCP76 Tyson Auer. Again, not a chrome fan either unless it's the Angels.

Recently picked up the second card I needed to complete this team set.

The 1981 Scratch-Off cards were sold separately from the regular set, and included the stick of gum. Of the 108 card set, the Angels had 2 cards, Rod Carew and Carney Lansford. But of the 108 cards in the set, there are 144 possible panel combinations.

I decided one panel of each Angel was sufficient to complete the team set.

My #18 Rod Carew is at the top of the panel with #36 Willie Randolph and card #53 Mike Norris below.

Carney Lansford #25 gets the middle slot on this one and shares his panel with #6 Tony Armas and #43 Roy Smalley.

The backs of the two cards are almost identical with the top card noting the Scratch-Off game rules, and the middle card having the Scoreboard. The backs of the bottom cards have different advertisements, this one being the baseball hat offer. Carew's panel has an offer for the Topps Super Sports Card Locker. Nice.

I suppose that you could also have additional versions depending on the card location -top, middle, bottom, and each having a different back.

2004 Topps Archives TA-BGR Bobby Grich Certified Autograph from another SCN trader, Luke. I sent Luke 2 signed 1983 Fleer for his all-time team autograph collection.

Gregory aka Plaschke, Thy Sweater is Argyle sent this sweet 2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes John Traitor Lackey jersey card for, if I recall, a 2008 Timeline Adrian Beltre jersey card. Gregory also sent a short stack of Angels, but in a gross oversite I already put them in a binder, so I cant show you what he sent.

ANGELS TRANSACTIONS:
June 1, 1965: Traded by the Houston Astros to the California Angels for Don Lee.
April 1, 1966: Released by the California Angels.
May, 1966: Signed as a Free Agent with the California Angels.
February 13, 1967: Released by the California Angels.

ANGELS DEBUT:
Spangler entered the game in the 6th as a pinch hitter for pitcher Aubrey Gatewood, and with one out walked against Oriole Starter Wally Bunker (who threw a complete game shutout) in a 7-0 loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday, June 5, 1965 (D) at Chavez Ravine.

ANGELS RECORD:
Appeared in 57 games, all in the outfield. Hit .295 in 105 AB, scoring 19 runs. Committed only 2 errors in 82 chances.

Best Angels Performance:
Went 3 for 5, stealing 2 bases and scoring twice in a 6-4 loss to the Washington Senators on on Sunday, August 8, 1965 (D) at Chavez Ravine.

OTHER INTERESTING FACTS:
Signed by the Milwaukee Braves as an amateur free agent in 1954.
One of the original Houston Colt .45s in 1962.
Hit .292 for the AAA Seattle Angels in 1966.
Loved to face Larry Jackson: 17 for 57, 5 doubles, 2 triples, .298
Owned by Gaylord Perry: 7 for 40, .175, 10 strikeouts
Also played for the Braves (59-61); Colt 45s (62-64); Astros (65); Cubs (67-71).

Thursday, August 18, 2011

My computer went down a couple weeks ago. We finally got a new one. I'm glad to be posting again. And I have a lot of catching up to do.

I'll take baby steps.

Made a trade with fellow autograph collector Felix over on SCN. Felix sent me some Angels autographs for a bunch of signed 1986 Topps I had for trade.

Got this sweet 2006 Bowman Originals #BO16 Mark Trumbo. Mark is my new favorite Angel. He reminds me an awful lot of Tim Salmon. He's currently playing first base on the big club batting .256 with 22 HR and 56 RBI. Nice numbers.

Another favorite in the Angels system is Mike Trout. This is Mikes 2011 Tristar In Pursuit #1 card. Mike made his debut on July 8 against Seattle and went on to hit .213 with a home run in 43AB before being sent back down.

2009 Tristar Projections #145 Roberto Lopez. Roberto has made it up to the AAA level Salt Lake Bees.

2009 Bowman Prospects #BP57 Anthony Ortega. Ortega appeared in 3 games for the Angels in 2009 posting a 9.24 ERA in 12.2 IP.